Structure

Moldings establish scale and proportion in any room, and communicate the owner's taste. Photography courtesy of Brent Hull, Hull Historical

I began thinking about this single word "structure" and how it applies to design. At first, a very easy task, after all we use it almost every day. I couldn’t have been more incorrect. What I found was quite different from my initial thought. I began referencing the objects we live and surround us in our homes. I got lost in the details; A carved leg, a surface design, a color….Almost every design has been influenced by “organic structure”. First was the apparent, a curling fern, the acanthus leaf, even the fullness of a bloom. My idea of structure grew from here.

Most of you know my love for the beach and how I’ve incorporated the lifestyle into almost everything. In my home, besides the driftwood mounted on the wall (you’ve heard that one before) I have a collection of rustic oars hanging on a Robins Eggs Blue wall. The painted surface designs scattered about emphasize the always inspiring structures of English gardens. One of which is in this journal entry; a surface design intended to be a print for scarves, complete with Latin botanicals that I created. As if that weren’t enough, I even planted Sea Oats outside my kitchen window just for the texture and color last weekend. I’m looking forward to it taking hold and providing another visual opportunity. Perhaps it’s just another way of introducing structure into my personal space, but I find that details make the worthwhile difference of making house a home. How will you incorporate it into yours?

Michael Fogs 42" Faux Bois Bench. Utilizing materials to create impossible forms

Live willow fence

Jane Churchill

French Design, More information in the "Own the Look" tab.

Krause Music Store, Chicago, Illinois, 1922 — William Presto and Louis Sullivan.

Louis Sullivan’s last commission as an architect before his death in 1924.

English Tudor Garden Study: Michael Ryan Design

Orange Tree in Bronze: Andrew Zega & Bernd DamsThe Art of Topiary

Stunning latitudinal view from one sitting room through the foyer, on into a beautiful living room, and finally out to a gracious patio area in a home in Rye, New York by Mark P. Finlay, Architect.

Breathe

It's time to put down the iPad and step outside. With the new season comes another opportunity to contemplate our lives. Now, I'm not saying that we all have to follow in Madonna's dramatic footsteps of reinventing ourselves. However, one idea is key for this transformation: family. Over the winter months we've forgotten that there's more to life than work, than surfing the internet, and checking Facebook. We've forgotten how to simply... breathe.

More often than not, it's the simple moments with family that can inspire and catalyst the most profound changes in our lives. For me, given on a particular day, this feeling can be discovered by an afternoon at the beach. The first spring day exciting all of the senses with freshness in the air, and the sun recharging my exhausted and thinly spread life. Even repainting the living room wall, buying a spontaneous bucket of paint with my daughter and bringing the outdoors in. Whatever the case may be, the time has come to make the home the center of your life again. The time has come to take charge, turn up the music, and get to it!

Capturing this sense of relaxation and ultimate content may sound as impossible as catching lightening in a bottle. Yet, it's not only vital for your mental health, but it's as simple as deciding what to wear in the morning. No matter what outfit you end up choosing, it's completely and utterly you. With that in mind, reflect on what graces your home. Do the walls and rooms truly reflect the ideas and moments that you cherish the most? Personally, the color blue has followed my family for decades. It's always let itself be prominent in the memories that I hold most dear. From my brother's desire to become a member of the Air Force, planes contrasting against the sky, to my daughter teaching our Portuguese waterdog not to be afraid of the waves that hit the shore line- blue has always been a part of the story. And with my desire to continue that legacy, I place hints of the playful color in almost every room. It's become a permanent guest in my home.

So, we must return the basics, there we'll uncover what inspires and motivates. Don't complicate the idea by over thinking every little decision. Follow your instincts. It's time to frame that old photo of grandma, repaint the office, reupholster that family heirloom that's been sitting around, and emphasize those little family quirks that make a house a home. After all, we shouldn't feel like guests in our own home. We should always have the time to breathe, celebrate family, home and a new season.